How to write and run unit tests¶

After modifying or creating a file, make sure to check that function works as expected with unit testing.

Running unit tests¶

Run the setup.py script to execute all unit tests:

python setup.py test

Writing new unit tests¶

Step 1: Create a tests directory¶

Create a a tests directory in the directory where the modified file is located if one does not already exist.

Step 2: Contents of the tests directory¶

Each tests directory should have a __init__.py file so that the tests can be discovered. A file called test_function_name.py should exist for each file in the directory.

Step 3: Contents of `test_function_name.py`¶

Each test_function_name.py file should import the tau.tests package. A separate class should be created for each function that is tested and multiple test functions may be created in each class in order to run multiple tests on a single function. Each function should use an assert* command that checks if the function produces the expected output.

An example unit test function¶

Below is an example unit test function for a function that converts a string to camel case.

class CamelCaseTest(unittest.TestCase):
    def test_camelcase(self):
        self.assertEqual(util.camelcase("abc_def_ghi"), "AbcDefGhi")

Further information on the unit test package¶

The page has more information on writing a unit test function.